


to whom the night belongs

by rain_at_dawn



Series: stars, scattered [23]
Category: SHINee
Genre: Band Fic, Emotions, Established Relationship, Hopeful Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Secret Rendezvous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28596114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rain_at_dawn/pseuds/rain_at_dawn
Summary: 12. things you said when you thought i was asleep - take 2
Relationships: Kim Jonghyun/Lee Jinki | Onew
Series: stars, scattered [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608877
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	to whom the night belongs

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by @ohayo_hyuna on Twitter.

It had been Jonghyun’s idea to drag Jinki out of bed at this time of night, but it had still been Jinki’s choice to stick with him this far along, even with a little grumbling on the way. Jonghyun was the one behind the wheel, literally helming it from the plush leather seat of his Lambo, and figuratively propelled by the rush to take flight from Seoul.

They have a studio recording tomorrow so a flight out isn’t an option. But Jonghyun can drive as aimlessly as he can, as far away from the city lights as he can get, until the woods turn wild and deep around them. It gets really dark enough for the moonlight to finally filter through the leaves above them.

There’s a lookout point he’s hoping to get to; he’s been there alone plenty of times. Tonight, he has Jinki.

Jonghyun turns right down the familiar dirt road that takes them nearer the edge of the cliff which overlooks the glass and metal corporate jungles, the humbler houses people unlike them call ‘home’, the parks, the malls, the scattered dreams and hopes being put to rest underneath the cover of night. He usually comes here when he’s sick and tired of being told that things would turn out all right. This was a place where his miseries were aired, no matter how minuscule they seem before the entire universe.

But tonight, he has Jinki. Half-asleep in the passenger seat, warm and fragile, soft-hearted and resilient, he has Jinki by his side. Right where he wants him.

As he brings the car to park just a few feet from where the earth took a steep incline down towards where they’d begun their journey, he shakes his head slowly, trying to clear it, side to side. For once, he wanted to soar above instead of sinking into his thoughts. It was a blue, blue night and if he allows his mind to wander further, it makes him feel like he’s pondering over an ocean of stars.

Then there’s the pull of the constellation centered around Jinki’s warm fingertips on the back of his hand, tracing the ridges of his knuckles still clenched around the wheel. It ignites the usual greed Jonghyun always has for his touch; it steadies him, it anchors him.

Sometimes, this much is enough.

He doesn’t have to talk to Jinki to get his point across, but he likes hearing him speak.

“It’s just pretty here,” Jonghyun begins, curling his hand underneath Jinki’s palm and interlacing their fingers together. “Everything is.”

From the way Jinki gazes at him fondly, through half-lidded eyes, Jonghyun can tell he agrees with every word. It still doesn’t stop him from asking, “Is that why you woke me up in the middle of the night?”

“Could it be?”

“I wouldn’t mind anyway, Jonghyun. You know that.”

The last three words are murmured with such surety that Jonghyun almost believes he does. Jinki never calls him out on bad decisions; he’s the type to trust Jonghyun entirely, even if he doesn’t fully understand his reasons.

Jonghyun could just leave it at that; he could easily pick up Jinki and drape him over the backseat, and play with him exactly the way he liked, and let the stars sing for themselves.

He can’t.

“Do you remember what you told your mother last night?”

Jinki’s eyelids flutter open as the memory reforms behind them. He’d probably thought Jonghyun had been too sound asleep to be woken up by the chime of his mobile ring-tone that evening, not long after their last round of lovemaking. Through the comfortable haze of blissed out tiredness, Jonghyun had caught snatches of that rushed conversation:

_“Eomma, I’ve told you this. I trust him._

_“I love him.”_

It might be a cloud shifting over them or just a trip of the darkness that marks the tension that ripples through Jonghyun. He knows Jinki senses this too; he shifts in the passenger seat and tightens his clasp of Jonghyun’s hand.

“She really does like you, I swear. It’s just that she thinks we’re a…”

“Phase?”

Jinki’s smile softens the blow. “She’ll come around. Nothing against you personally.”

“Except me being with you like this.”

There’s a tug on his hand.

“Come here.” Jinki gently instructs him, pulling Jonghyun’s hand towards his chest, right towards the place where his heart beats. On a night that feels steeped in the kind of quiet that contains so much, the gesture ignites the old superstitions that plague Jonghyun’s mind: what if it was too much to hope for? What if each moment like this would lead to a build-up that could only come crashing down if things came to an end?

But the less reasonable part of his brain sings louder: _it’s only what if._

_If._

Jinki’s hands curl into Jonghyun’s shirt as he crawls into his lap, small and sure as a pair of cat paws, minus the threat of any claws. Jonghyun presses his lips against his, not going any deeper; it was just that, a simple gesture that spoke volumes: _I’m here, I’m here, I’m here._

He doesn’t have to pull the next few words off Jinki’s tongue; they’re always nestled right there in the corner of his mouth, tucked safely for Jonghyun’s ears only.

“I love you.”

And with that, Jonghyun presses in harder: _I love you always._

The next kiss comes in, as does the next. He’ll kiss Jinki a million times, for as many stars float in the sky, and never tire of it. He’ll never not be comforted by the arch of his body beneath his, just like he’ll never lose track of the secrets he’s scattered over the skin bared only to him.

Morning would come and the world would remain unchanged.

“I love you.”

And so would Jinki.

Jonghyun swallows each word, savoring the way they fill his chest and bloom deep in his heart. He leans in closer, sure as the night that surrounds them. 


End file.
